ISLAMABAD (IRNA)- Project Director of China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) strongly believes that relationship between Iran and Pakistan willgrow further and stronger under the CPEC.

In an interview with IRNA, Hassan Daud Butt said Gwadar port of Pakistanand the Iranian port of Chabahar are sister ports and their cooperationwould prove to be very fruitful for the entire region.

“We are already working on the cooperation between Gwadar and Chabaharports,” said the CPEC Project Director.

He went on to say that Gwadar and Chabahar are sister ports and they cansupplement each other. “On part of the government of Pakistan and on partof the team working on Gwadar and Chabahar we don’t feel or see acompetition, I think both of us will support each other,” he noted.

The official added that, ‘We have three phases for the up gradation ofPakistan rail network, in the first phase we will upgrade the existingrailway track, in the second phase the southern areas of Pakistan will beconnected to the rail network and in the third phase the western railnetwork which connects Pakistan with Iran will be upgraded and by 2030 weare expecting that all projects will be in place.

Hassan Daud Butt expressing his views said there is nothing stopping usfrom building rail or road networks we are already doing that.

Under the CPEC many infrastructure projects are under constructionthroughout Pakistan. Originally valued at $46 billion, the value of CPECprojects is now worth $ 62 billion.

The project will link Pakistani Gwadar port to China Xinjiang province.Iran has already expressed their desire to join the connectivity project.

Hassan Daud Butt earlier addressing a conference in Islamabad said localand international media have a pivotal role in ensuring successfulexecution of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects by discardingpropaganda of anti-CPEC and anti-Pakistan elements.

He said CPEC had helped Pakistan in removing major bottlenecks in the wayof the country’s economy especially in energy and infrastructure sectors,paving the way for increased and sustainable economic growth.

The CPEC Project Director informed that the western alignment of thecorridor had almost been completed while the Central route was expected tobe completed by 2015.

He said Gwadar was transforming into a state of the art international portcity at a rapid pace and soon “we will see Gwadar as the hub of trade inthe region”.

He said CPEC had become a benchmark for other countries who are part of theChinese One Belt One Road Initiative.